


King-Size Bed

by ObsessedtwibrarianOTB



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flash Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6366607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB/pseuds/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a*lone (adv. & adj.): the awe, joy, or sadness of having no one else present  (Source: The Dictionary of Real Life, 55th Edition)</p>
            </blockquote>





	King-Size Bed

 

She knew it was a mistake, but she was young and stupid. Of the 206 bones in her body, none could be called athletic, yet she agreed to go skiing for the first time ever. Thirty minutes of lessons, then she found herself at the very top of the mountain, her nephew reassuring her she would make it to the bottom just fine. Then he slid off that near vertical drop in a series of graceful twists and turns, leaving her stranded at the top of the world.

The falling snow blanketed her body in a soft, white shroud. There was no sound— _literally none_. It was as if she were the only person left, and the world was holding its breath in anticipation. She had never experienced this kind of solitude before.

She knew what had to be done, of course, but she was in no hurry to start the downward spiral that could break her into painful pieces. She turned awkwardly on her skis, slowly, and just took it all in: the moonlit darkness, the towering trees blanketed in white, the pristine snow piling deep around her feet, the profound silence. Despite her fear at what was to come, a new emotion suddenly overwhelmed her with its intensity: awe.

Only later, when she was safely at the bottom, did she come to understand that being alone wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, being on top of that mountain all by herself had been the most intimate moment in her life so far.

* * *

 

She loved her very first womb fruit, she really did. But, as much as that little girl made her smile with her innocence and giggles, her adorable mispronunciations of words, she also wore her down to the bone with her demands: the tugging at her pants, the extremes of her emotions, the tears, the whining, the tantrums. She had to constantly be aware of everything her toddler was doing, all the time, twenty-four hours a day. For a person who could literally lose herself for hours in the imaginary world of a good book, such constant monitoring of the real world took its emotional toll.

She’d forgotten what it felt like to go to the bathroom without her pint-sized escort, or to take a relaxing bath in peace. She yearned to stay up late again, and to awake the next morning even later, but those days were long gone. She sometimes thought if she didn’t get some time alone, she was going to lose her mind.

Then a miracle happened. Her daughter turned five and started kindergarten. She stood in the driveway and watched as her precious child climbed into that big yellow taxi. It drove off. She walked back inside her house, and suddenly she realized she was utterly alone. Completely alone.

**_ALONE!! YES!!!_ **

She took a long bath. She read. She played her music as loud as the stereo would go. She got dressed, then went shopping. All. By. Herself. It was the best day she’d had in five years. And the really great thing was that she would be completely alone (from 7:00 to 2:30) for 179 more days, until the end of school!

Just before her daughter got home from school that day, she realized that sometimes being alone was the most joyful feeling in the world.

 

* * *

 

At the time, it had seemed like a really great idea. Her husband had gotten a bit larger, and said he needed more space. He complained of being too hot at night, and said he needed more space. He snored, and she agreed that he definitely needed more space! So she bought a king-size bed.

It was a monster piece of furniture—there was barely enough room to walk around it in the small bedroom—but that was all right with her because they now had more space for their two children to crawl into bed when nightmares invaded their sleep, and for the miniature canine to crawl in between them, too. Even better, there was more space for her husband to toss and turn in cool comfort on his side, far away from his too-hot wife.

The years passed and, as the saying goes, shit happened. Her children were grown and physically gone. Her husband was _emotionally_ gone. All that was left of her “great idea” was an empty expanse of mattress big enough to fit three planets in it. She slept alone every single night.

Sometimes, she lay awake in that monstrous bed, with its king-size emptiness, wondering if there was another woman like her somewhere in the world. For the first time in her long life, she realized that being alone was quite possibly the saddest thing that could happen to a person.


End file.
